DDP Yoga Review

About the Program

Diamond Dallas Page was a pro-wrestler who suffered one too many blows and ruptured his L4/L5 discs. He was unable to bend over, sit or walk. At the time his wife was doing yoga and she encouraged him to do so as well. Initially he refused. In desperation he decided to try it and it changed his life. DDP Yoga was born out of a combination of rehabilitation moves and yoga.

Dallas Page encourages participants to make this program their own, to work at a pace that they find comfortable. The program is for all fitness levels and the exercises are non-impact/isometric. (There is the standard warning to consult your physician before starting this or any exercise program.)

If you are like me, you have probably heard of isometrics but are not quite sure what it means. I went to the Mayo Clinic’s website for more information:

Isometric exercises are contractions of a particular muscle or group of muscles. …

Isometric exercises may be helpful to someone who’s been injured or has a condition such as arthritis, which could make movement painful or be aggravated by using muscles to move a joint through the full range of motion. For instance, if you injure your rotator cuff, your doctor or physical therapist might initially recommend isometric exercises involving the group of muscles that helps stabilize the shoulder to maintain shoulder strength during recovery.

It’s also important to note that isometric exercises generally aren’t recommended for people who have high blood pressure or heart problems, because the large increase in muscle tension caused by isometric exercises can dramatically increase blood pressure.

The program guide has a 13-week workout grid with beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. For the beginner, the participant performs yoga on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the first 5 weeks. On weeks 6 & 8 and from 10-13, the participant may also add an optional routine on Saturday or Sunday. Intermediate and Advanced levels have somewhat more complicated schedules.

The guide also contains a nutrition guide and there are three phases. On all phases, the following are on the “Don’t List”:

alcohol

artificial sweeteners

fried foods

hydrogenated oils

soda

sugar

white flour

white rice

On phases two and three, gluten and dairy are added to that list.

After briefly reviewing it, I believe that the food advice is pretty sound. In the guide there is also a “Real Food List” which includes fruit, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats. It might be comparable to eating “paleo.”

Personal Review

Due to technical difficulties, I have only been able to try it out for one day. (OK, I will admit that it was user error – I had a hard time hooking up our DVD player and figuring out how to work it.) Yesterday, the day after, I noticed that I was a little sore. Today I am still a little sore and will be doing it again. For me it is a reminder that I have muscle groups that I do not use on a regular basis. I intend on working my way through the series.

Regarding the diet plan – though it does seem nutritionally sound, I do not know if I am ready to give up some of my favorite things now. (I really could drink a Diet Coke right now and it is on the “Don’t List.”) I may make it my personal goal to try to follow the food guidelines this summer.

Disclosure: I received the program guide, a poster, and DVD Discs 1-4 to facilitate this review (and one set to give away). All opinions are my own.

It can be part of a good diet/exercise regimen. My husband did a segment with me about a week ago and I think he was surprised that it was such a good workout. (And nice, too, that we could do it at home. The snow had made roads impassable and we could not go to the gym.)